Death Of A Clown
by FaithinBones
Summary: Booth and Brennan investigate the death of a semi-famous clown which makes Booth deal with his  clown phobia.
1. Chapter 1

The Death of A Clown

Booth and Brennan are called out to a crime scene at the Lincoln Memorial. The victim is a clown and Booth has to deal with the ramifications of his growing clown phobia.

This takes place about four weeks after Change In The Game.

I don't own Bones.

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Booth had been asleep for about four hours when he got the phone call. Lying in bed with his arms around Brennan, Booth opened his eyes just wide enough to look at the clock on Brennan's night stand. Seeing the time, Booth closed his eyes and decided that he wasn't answering the phone at three in the morning. No way. He had just finished up a case at 9:30 that evening and he hadn't even finished the paper work on that case, yet. The FBI had other agents, let whoever was calling him, call one of them instead.

While Booth was desperately trying to ignore the phone, Brennan decided she had enough, "Either answer the phone, Booth or let me go so I can answer it. Who ever is calling is obviously not going to give up."

Refusing to open his eyes and acknowledge that he was awake, Booth just held Brennan tighter.

Reaching up and pinching his arm, Brennan said, "If you're awake enough to tighten your grip on me then you're awake enough to answer the phone."

Sighing, Booth let Brennan go and rolled over. Reaching out to his phone, Booth took the call, "This is Booth, you better have a damn good reason for waking me up."

Listening to the agent on the other end, Booth wasn't too happy to hear that the reason he was being called was because a body had been found at the Lincoln Memorial about an hour ago. The body had been badly treated and they needed his partner's expertise.

Sighing again, Booth told the caller that he would be at the crime scene in about an hour, with his partner.

Hearing the last part of Booth's conversation, Brennan put her hands over her ears.

Seeing what Brennan was doing, Booth ended his call and laughed. Leaning towards Brennan, he pulled her hand from her left ear. Leaning over her, Booth said, "Just remember, you were the one that insisted that I answer the phone, partner. By the way, since you're the reason why I was called at this ungodly hour, I'm supposed to call you and let you know we have a case. "

Smiling, Booth got on his knees and hovering over her, he clapped his hands and said, "Chop chop, we've got a case."

Not amused, Brennan rolled over onto her back, grabbed Booth's arm and pulled him down next to her.

Laughing, Booth said, "You know, if you'd just tell everyone we're living together it would make our lives a whole lot easier."

Frowning, Brennan said, "Not yet, Booth. We're still trying to get adjusted to our new relationship. I don't want any extra scrutiny from our friends or the FBI. We still have time to make the announcement. We've only been living together for four weeks."

Looking intently at Brennan, Booth kissed her and said, "It's up to you, Bones. Whenever you're ready, just let me know."

Nodding her head, Brennan kissed Booth back and said, "I think we'd better get out of bed now or we might end up arriving at the crime scene later than we're supposed to."

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Arriving at the Lincoln Memorial, Booth grabbed Brennan's crime scene kit from the truck and started walking up the steps. Brennan walking fast, caught up with Booth and said, "I can carry my own kit, Booth."

Stopping, Booth looked at the steps and then at Brennan, "I can carry it, Bones. The steps are steep and you could fall."

Shaking her head, Brennan said, "Don't be ridiculous, Booth. I won't fall." Grabbing her kit, Brennan proceeded to walk up the steps.

Hodgins, who had been waiting for Brennan and Booth, saw the entire exchange. Frowning, he thought, "He keeps doing that lately. I wonder what's up."

Brennan, arriving first, was a little surprised to see what was before her. The body was lying on its back. The victim's head had been separated from his body and it was presently lying on his chest. Squatting down and leaning closer, Brennan could see that his teeth had been pulled out and someone had gone to the trouble of snipping off his fingertips. She had seen worse; but, for some reason, she was feeling a little nauseous this time. Standing up and looking back at the top of the steps, Brennan stepped to the side and waited for Booth to finish climbing the steps. He was taking his time doing it because viewing dead bodies wasn't exactly his favorite part of the job.

When Booth reached the top of the steps, he got his first look at the victim. Stopping, Booth froze in place. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Brennan had known that Booth would probably have just this reaction; so, when he stopped and stared at the body, Brennan walked over to him and said, "Booth." Not getting any response, she stepped in between Booth and the body.

Startled, Booth looked up at Brennan and with a weak smile said, "Seriously? A clown?"

Smiling, Brennan said, "But he's dead, Booth. There isn't anything to worry about. He's dead and that's all you need to know."

Nodding his head, Booth said, "Yeah, you're right. I wasn't really worried though. I was just caught off guard, that's all."

Hodgins knew that Booth hated, if not feared, clowns so he had made sure that he had a good view when Booth finally saw the body. Booth had reacted just like he thought he would.

Turning around, Brennan walked back over to the body and started to examine the body again.

Looking up at Booth, Brennan said, "This obviously is not the initial crime scene. Just a quick glance at the victim tells me that he's been moved."

Once Brennan started to examine the body, Hodgins turned to Booth and asked, "Why would anyone dump a body here? It's seems like a pretty dumb place to do that. Whoever did it took a big risk that someone would see them. I mean it's a tourist site, for crying out loud."

Looking at Hodgins, Booth said, "Not at one or two in the morning. Whoever did it probably did it to make a statement. Remember the time that body was dumped at the Washington Monument, on the scaffolding? The killer did it because he considered his brother-in-law to be a world class liar and he wanted people to know that. He figured that George Washington's reputation for telling the truth would point out just how bad his brother-in-law really was and that he had done the world a favor."

Shaking his head, Hodgins bent down over the body with Brennan and studied it. He would wait for Brennan to finish before doing his part of the examination. He had already looked around the body, for several yards and had collected every bit of trash and particulates he could find.

Looking up, he saw Booth staring at the victim. "What's wrong, Booth?" Hodgins asked.

Shaking his head, Booth said, "Nothing. I was just thinking."

Looking at Booth, Brennan said, "We'll have to take the body back to the lab. We should be able to identify the victim even though someone did go through a lot of effort to try to make that harder."

Stunned, Hodgins looked at Booth and then Brennan, "Wait a minute. Don't you know who this is?"

Shaking their heads, Booth and Brennan stared at Hodgins.

Smiling, Hodgins said, "This is Uncle Billy Bob. Don't you recognize him?"

Frowning, Brennan said, "Why would I know what your uncle looks like?"

Shrugging his shoulders, Booth said, "Just because you say you know him doesn't mean I know him."

Shaking his head, Hodgins said, "He's not my uncle, Dr. B. He's Uncle Billy Bob. You know, from the Uncle Billy Bob TV show."

Seeing blank looks, Hodgins continued, "Come on, the guy was almost as famous as Captain Kangaroo. He had a kid's show on TV for over fifteen years at 3:30 p.m., every weekday afternoon. I watched his show, every day, when I got home from school."

Brennan looking at the victim, said, "I didn't watch children's television when I was growing up. My parents thought it would affect my intelligence. My Dad said it would lower my IQ by at least twenty points."

Booth said, "Why the hell would I watch a clown on TV? That's not my idea of a good show."

Shaking his head, Hodgins said, "OK. Just take my word for it. This guy is famous. This is going to be big news when the press finds out. I mean it's Uncle Billy Bob."

Sighing, Booth said, "Terrific."

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	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Bones, if I did, we would really know why Booth hates clowns.

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After Brennan had examined the body, she had given the FBI techs permission to move the body to the Jeffersonian. Hodgins had stayed with the techs searching the crime scene to see what else he could find at the crime scene. Since it was only 5:14 in the morning, Brennan had told Booth she wanted to go back home and sleep a little while longer. She would go into the lab at around nine. It would give Cam time to get to the Jeffersonian, do an autopsy and give Booth cause of death as well as a firm time of death.

Booth decided that sounded like a good idea and took Brennan home to her apartment. That was where they were both staying this week. So far, they were staying, alternate weeks, in each others apartments. It seemed a little to nebulous to Booth; but, Brennan refused to move in with him and he refused to move in with her. So far, they were at an impasse.

Booth dropped Brennan off at her apartment and told her that she would need to drive to work later. He had a lot of paper work to deal with and he needed to get that done before Cam dropped the autopsy of their latest victim on him. He also would get the ball rolling and find out where Uncle Billy Bob was supposed to be last night and what he was supposed to be doing. He would then send someone out to where ever Uncle Billy Bob was supposed to be earlier this evening and see if the crime scene could be found.

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Hodgins had been right. Uncle Billy Bob was famous. The key word being "was". His show hadn't been on the air for over fifteen years. Booth had found out that the victim had been attending a convention in town. Shuddering, Booth found out that the convention was a clown convention. Sometimes Booth felt like God had it in for him. He'd never dream of saying that out loud; but, still, sometimes he wondered.

Booth hoped like hell that he wouldn't have to go the convention center. It gave him chills just thinking about it.

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It was ten in the morning and Booth was hard at work looking over his notes from the last crime that he and the squints had solved. He was still waiting for Cam to call him and let him know what the autopsy had revealed about the clown. As soon as he had that information, he was supposed to go get Brennan and go over to the hotel that the victim was staying in. He had already contacted the hotel manager and had told her not to let anyone into the clown's room, except the FBI. The hotel manager had agreed. Booth had sent over some FBI techs to the hotel room and they had reported back that there was no evidence of a crime having been committed in Uncle Billy Bob's room.

Sweets, entering Booth's office, saw that Booth appeared to be pretty busy. "Agent Booth, I was wondering if I could talk to you."

Looking up, Booth said, "Sure Sweets, what do you want."

Sitting in the chair across the desk from Booth, Sweets smiled and said, "I heard the victim at the crime scene you were sent to last night was a professional clown. I was just wondering how you feel about that."

Frowning, Booth said, "Why would I have a problem with the victims profession?"

Smiling, Sweets said, "Oh, come on everyone knows you hate clowns. If anything, how do we know you didn't kill the clown? I mean you've shot at a clown in the past."

Annoyed, Booth said, "If that's your idea of a joke, Sweets then you failed. I've never shot at a real clown. I have shot a clown decoration on an ice cream truck. You know that, besides, I'm not a murderer and you know that too. If you're trying to get me back into therapy then forget it. Oh, and just to let you know, smartass, if I need it, I have an alibi for last night, too."

Alert, Sweets said, "You were with someone last night when the clown was killed?"

Shaking his head, Booth said, "First, we don't know when the victim was killed. Bones thinks he was killed about midnight last night; but, that isn't official yet. Second, it's none of your business who I was with last night, if I was with someone."

Nodding his head, Sweets said, "So you weren't really with someone last night?"

Frowning, Booth said, "Oh, no, I was with someone all right. It's just not any of your business."

Curious, Sweets asked, "Does Dr. Brennan know your seeing someone?"

Leaning back into his chair, Booth stared at Sweets. Thinking about his answer, Booth said, "Of course and she doesn't care. You're sticking your nose into my personal business, Sweets. I don't like it. Your not my therapist, so stop it."

Sighing, Sweets said, "Yeah, but I am your friend. I just thought you and Dr. Brennan had finally come to an agreement and you both were going to start seeing each other."

Smiling, Booth said, "Bones is seeing someone and so am I. Quit matchmaking Sweets. You're not very good at it."

Shaking his head, Sweets got up from his chair. "I'll never understand you two. You're made for each other. I don't see why you both can't see that."

Shaking his head, Booth said, "Go away Sweets."

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Interesting? Any comments?


	3. Chapter 3

Thank you for the reviews and the alerts. They are very encouraging.

I don't own Bones.

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Cam had found the idea of doing an autopsy on Uncle Billy Bob rather disturbing. She had watched his show when she was a child and just loved him. Now, here he was, lying on her autopsy table in pieces. Someone must have really hated him to do what they had done to him. It didn't take her long to figure out what had killed him though. Someone had shot him straight through the heart. His head had been cut off after he had been killed, so had his finger tips. The bullet wasn't in the body, so they really needed to find the crime scene. Cam knew that Booth had sent some agents to the hotel Uncle Billy Bob was supposed to be staying in and they were also looking around the convention center; but, so far, no crime scene had been found.

Hodgins was going over the clothes that Uncle Billy Bob had worn and was trying to figure out where to tell Booth to look for the crime scene. So far, he had found wall plaster and gypsum board on the clothes. He had also found sawdust and some brads caught in the clothes and a piece of wire. It looked like Uncle Billy Bob had been some place that was being renovated so Hodgins called the convention center and found out that no renovations were being done there at that time. He then called over to the hotel and found out that the tenth floor was being remodeled. No one was staying on the tenth floor at this time because of the renovation. If Uncle Billy Bob had been on the tenth floor then it wasn't for obvious reasons.

Hodgins let Cam know that Booth should probably have someone look on the tenth floor of the hotel. Right now, it was the only place Hodgins could point Booth to as a possible crime scene. He would continue to look at the clothes and the stuff he had collected at the body dump and see if he could pinpoint the exact site; but, right now, the hotel was his best guess.

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Brennan had slept for about three hours and then had driven herself to the Jeffersonian. Besides the fingertips being snipped off, the body wasn't in too bad of shape. The head had been separated from the body; but, the head itself wasn't in too bad of shape either. Brennan knew that Cam wasn't going to de-flesh the bones because there really wasn't a reason to do so.

Brennan had gone by the autopsy room to see if Cam wanted her help; but, she had found out that Cam was almost done with the autopsy. That was fine with Brennan. She really didn't like to deal with fleshy bodies. Leaving Cam, Brennan went to her office and started to work on some reports Booth needed, to finish up the last case they had worked on.

Brennan had been working on her paper work when Booth called her and asked her if she wanted to go to the hotel with him. It looked like Agent Johnson had found the crime scene. Booth would pick up her and Hodgins in about a half hour. Agreeing, Brennan let Hodgins know that he needed to get his kit together and that Booth was on the way to pick them up and take them to what appeared to be the crime scene for Uncle Billy Bob.

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Booth had driven over to the hotel in complete silence. He hadn't responded when Hodgins had asked him a couple of questions so both Brennan and Hodgins figured that Booth was either in a bad mood or was just didn't want to talk. Either way, they both kept quiet for the trip to the hotel.

Arriving at the hotel, Brennan had been surprised that Booth hadn't tried to carry her crime scene kit to the crime scene from the truck. This was the first time he hadn't tried to do that since he had found out that Brennan was pregnant. Looking at Booth, Brennan realized that he was very worried about something.

Walking beside Booth, Brennan asked, "Are you alright, Booth? You look worried."

Booth not hearing the question, kept walking.

Wanting an answer to her question, Brennan grabbed Booth's right arm and asked, "Booth, I asked you if you're alright?"

Stopping, Booth turned to Brennan and said, "What? Is there a problem?"

Shaking her head, Brennan said, "I want to know if you're alright. You haven't said anything since we got into the truck back at the Jeffersonian. Are you angry with me?"

Frowning, Booth said, "No, Bones. I'm not angry at you. Why would I be angry with you? I'm not angry at anyone. I'm just worried about something Agent Johnson told me before I came and got you."

"What did Agent Johnson tell you to make you so worried?" Brennan asked.

Looking over to where Hodgins was standing, waiting for them, Booth leaned over and told Brennan in a very quiet voice, "Agent Johnson told me that most of the clowns attending the convention are staying at this hotel."

Nodding her head, Brennan said, "I see. Booth, if you don't want to go into the hotel that will be fine. Hodgins and I can look over the site that Agent Johnson thinks is the crime scene and you can wait out here. I'll call you and let you know what we find."

Shaking his head, Booth said, "Nah, I can't do that. I'm coming with you."

Shaking her head, Brennan said, "Really, Booth. You just stand around when we're looking over the crime scene anyways. Just do it down here."

Smiling, Booth said, "No. I'll be fine. No one's staying on the tenth floor anyways. Besides, I can't let a few clowns stop me from doing my job. I've been in two war zones and I've been shot at by people who really wanted me dead. A few guys dressed up in makeup shouldn't bother me."

Frowning, Brennan said, "If you say so."

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Does this still sound interesting? Hope you like it so far.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Bones.

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Upon entering the hotel lobby, Booth had seen a few clowns standing around talking to each other. Keeping his head down, Booth walked over to the elevator and pushed the up button. Waiting for the elevator to arrive, Booth stared at the elevator door. Brennan spent the time watching Booth and Hodgins spent the time watching Booth and Brennan.

Hodgins was amused at Booth's dilemma; but, at the same time, he was just a little bit uncomfortable and just a little bit angry. He'd be willing to pay a lot of money to know why Booth was so afraid of clowns. He thought it was funny that a grown man was afraid of men in clown makeup. On the other hand, if that man was known to be very brave, then something very bad must have been done to that man to make him so afraid and that made Hodgins angry. That was one of the reasons that he didn't try to tease Booth about his phobia. Normally something like that would be fair game; but, he just knew that, whatever the reason, it probably wasn't a joke to Booth. Since, Hodgins considered himself a friend of Booth, then it wasn't a joke to him either.

When the elevator arrived, Booth, Brennan and Hodgins stepped aside to let four clowns step out of the elevator. Once they were off of the elevator, Booth and his team got onto the elevator. Sighing, Booth press the 10 button and waited for the elevator to take him to the tenth floor.

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Arriving at the tenth floor, Booth, Brennan and Hodgins were met by Agent Johnson. He told Booth that he and Agent Shaw had looked over the tenth floor and they thought they had found the crime scene. Nodding his head, Booth asked Agent Johnson to show them.

Walking down the hall, Booth saw that a lot of renovations were being done to the tenth floor. Stopping at the end of the hall, Agent Johnson pointed down to the floor and also into the room they were standing outside of. The floor showed signs of something being dragged on it. Whatever had been dragged was dragged out of the room they were standing in front of and then dragged around the corner and down the hall.

Nodding towards the room, Booth looked at Brennan and said, "Why don't you and Hodgins look over the room and see if it's the initial crime scene. Agent Johnson and I are going to follow the drag marks."

Smiling, Brennan said, "Of course. We should be able to confirm if this is the crime scene by the time you come back to this room."

Watching Brennan and Hodgins enter the room, Booth and Johnson then walked down the hall, following the drag marks. There was heavy dust all over every surface in the hallway so the trail was very obvious. The drag marks led them to a freight elevator. Pushing the down button, Booth and Johnson waited for the elevator to arrive. Once the elevator arrived, Booth and Johnson looked at the elevator floor. It looked like something had been dragged onto the elevator floor. It was decided that they would stop on every floor and see if they could figure out what floor the object was taken to. Booth and Johnson were pretty sure the object, that had been dragged, had been the body of Uncle Billy Bob.

Stopping on each floor, Booth and Johnson were able to determine that the body was taken off of the elevator on the first floor. The body was then dragged to the side door located about ten feet down the hallway. Opening that door, the agents found themselves in a receiving bay. The bay was empty. Walking out into the bay, they were able to follow some drag marks until they finally petered out. Looking around, Booth saw a camera aimed at the receiving bay door. Pointing to the camera, Booth asked Johnson to get a copy of whatever had been recorded on the camera. He was interested in anything recorded from six yesterday evening until about three this morning. He wanted as much leeway as possible. Once Johnson had the video, Booth wanted Johnson to go back to the tenth floor and supervise the crime scene. Nodding, Johnson went back into the hotel to find the hotel manager to let her know what he wanted.

Watching Johnson go back into the building, Booth walked over to the edge of the loading ramp and sat down. Putting his head in his hands, Booth started to shake. He knew he had to get himself under control before he embarrassed himself. He had almost left when he had seen the clowns in the lobby. He was angry with himself for being such a coward. His phobia didn't use to be this bad. It just seemed to have gotten this bad in the last year or two. Hell, he and Brennan had actually joined a circus for a few days a few years ago and those clowns hadn't scared him, not really. He had been angry that he had to deal with them; but, he hadn't been afraid of them. His hatred of clowns had steadily grown into a fear of clowns and he really didn't know how to fix it.

The fear of clowns seemed to have grown since his coma. When he came out of his coma, he had found out that he didn't hate clowns anymore, in fact, Brennan had to remind him that he hated clowns. He had actually thought they were amusing, for awhile. Then one night, he had a terrible nightmare. The nightmare had brought back his hatred of clowns. For some reason, with that hatred had also come fear. He had finally realized that his fear of clowns was getting a little dangerous when they had arrested the clown that belonged to the radical truth telling cult. Being near that clown had brought on a fear that didn't go away until the clown was no longer in his sight.

Booth really wished he could talk to someone about it; but, he didn't know who that could be. Gordon Gordon was out of the country and there was no way he was going to talk to Sweets about this. Sweets would tell Booth's bosses that he was losing it and he could end up being put on medical leave. He also didn't want to talk to Brennan about it either. She had too much worry about now that she was pregnant. He knew she was worried about everything to do with parenthood; so, he just didn't feel right adding to her problems. She didn't need to worry about his problems too. The only thing was, he knew if he didn't talk to someone about it soon, he was going to find himself in an unbearable situation.

Booth sat on the dock for about twenty minutes. Finally, knowing he couldn't put it off any longer, Booth got up and went back into the hotel.

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Reviews would be appreciated. Thanks.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews and alerts. They are very nice and I really appreciate them.

I don't own Bones.

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Going back up to the tenth floor of the hotel, Booth found Brennan and Hodgins, with Agent Shaw, looking over the crime scene. Hodgins had confirmed that this was indeed the initial crime scene and he was busy looking for anything that may point to the killer. Upon confirming that this was the primary crime scene, Agent Shaw had called in the FBI squints to go over the scene with Hodgins. She expected them to arrive at any time.

Seeing that everything was under control, Booth said to Brennan, "Ok Bones, I'll take you back to the Jeffersonian. Hodgins can stay here and work the crime scene."

Looking at Hodgins, Booth said, "When you're ready to go back to the Jeffersonian, let Agent Shaw know and she'll take you back."

Turning to Agent Shaw, Booth continued, "Agent Johnson will take over supervision of this crime scene when he gets back. He's looking into getting a copy of some surveillance video from the hotel receiving bay camera. We found drag marks leading from this room to a freight elevator. Johnson and I then checked each floor and found drag marks in the first floor hallway and then out the freight door in that hallway to the receiving bay. I'm hoping the video will show us who dragged the victim out of here."

Nodding her head, Agent Shaw said, "Yes, sir."

Seeing that everyone understood their roles, Booth turned to leave the room with Brennan following him.

Walking back to the elevator, Brennan said, "Booth, why don't you assign Agent Johnson as the lead to this crime? You have other assignments that you're responsible for at this at time. I'm sure he could handle it."

Shaking his head, Booth said, "Cullen assigned this one to me. I can't just turn it over to someone else. Cullen would ask me what's going on."

Turning to Brennan, Booth said, "Don't you think I can handle it?"

Frowning, Brennan said, "Of course you can handle it Booth. I just think you have a lot of different crimes already assigned to you right now and I don't see why Agent Johnson and Agent Shaw couldn't take care of this one." Putting her left hand on his arm, Brennan asked, "Please Booth. I don't like to see you so upset."

Smiling and putting his hand on hers, Booth said, "I'm fine, Bones. I really am. I'm not upset. I'm just a little jumpy that's all."

Leaning over and pushing the down button for the elevator, Booth said, "Come on, Bones. I have some things I need to take care of at the Hoover building."

Shaking her head, Brennan looked at Booth with concern. She was really worried about his clown phobia. It seemed to her that it had gotten worse lately.

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Riding down the elevator, all had gone well until the elevator door opened up onto the hotel lobby. Exiting the elevator, Booth and Brennan found themselves face to face with a crowd of twenty two men, dressed as clowns. All of them were bunched around the elevator door, waiting to go up to their rooms. Realizing that he didn't have a choice, Booth tried to keep his head down as he walked through the crowd. Feeling his breath becoming short as he walked through the crowd, Booth felt like he couldn't get enough air. By the time he made it through the crowd and out of the hotel, his hands were shaking and he was feeling nauseous.

Brennan, seeing Booth in obvious distress, stepped close to Booth and said, "Booth, the truck is just twenty paces in front of you. There are no clowns outside of this hotel. You're safe now."

Walking as fast as he could and still trying to maintain some dignity, Booth reached the truck. Afraid that he was actually going to throw up, Booth opened the passenger side of the truck and held onto the door frame for a couple of minutes. Feeling the nausea pass Booth got in the truck. Before closing the door, Booth said, "I need you to drive to the Jeffersonian, Bones. I don't feel well."

Nodding her head, Brennan walked around to the drivers side of the truck. She opened the back door to put her kit on the back seat and then closed that door. Looking through the drivers side door window, Brennan saw that Booth was leaning back against his seat and he was looking very pale.

Opening the drivers side door, Brennan asked, "Are you going to be ill?"

Shaking his head, Booth said, "No. I'm fine. I just felt a little wonky for a minute, that's all."

Nodding her head, Brennan got into the truck and started the engine. Looking at Booth, she could see that some color was starting to return to his cheeks and he was starting to look more like his normal self again. Putting the truck into gear, she drove Booth away from the source of his distress.

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Let me know what you think of this story so far? Thanks.


	6. Chapter 6

I don't own Bones.

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Once Booth and Brennan had arrived at the Jeffersonian, Brennan had driven the truck into the parking garage to where her reserved parking space was located and parked the truck next to it, taking Angela's reserved parking spot. She knew that Angela had come to work with Hodgins that day so the spot wasn't being used.

Putting the truck into park, Brennan turned to Booth and saw that he was looking out the passenger side window. Putting her right hand on Booth's lower left arm, Brennan said, "Booth, you need to talk to someone about your clown phobia. If you won't talk to Dr. Sweets about it, will you talk to me?"

Turning to Brennan, Booth said, "You have enough to worry about Bones, you don't need to hear about my crazy problems too. I'll be fine. Don't worry about it."

Shaking her head, Brennan said, "I'm your partner, Booth. I'm going to have your baby and I love you. I want to help you. I'm stronger than you think I am. You can tell me anything. No matter how bad it is, you can tell me. Please, Booth. Let me help you. I'm afraid that you're going to get killed if you don't get this phobia under control. I don't want to be a single parent, Booth. Please, talk to me."

Nodding his head, Booth put his right hand over Brennan's hand and said, "Look, Bones. I love you too. I know your strong. Hell, right now, I would bet your strong enough for both of us. The problem is, I don't know what to say. I don't how to fix this. I'm afraid of clowns and I don't know why."

Nodding her head, Brennan said, "Since you can't fix this by yourself then you need to let me help you. I want to help you. Please Booth, maybe we can fix this together."

Sighing, Booth said, "OK. Look, I have to get back to the Hoover building. I promise you, we'll talk about it tonight. Maybe we can fix this. I don't know. You're right though. Ignoring the problem hasn't fixed it yet."

Frowning, Brennan said, "I won't forget Booth. We will talk about this tonight."

Smiling sadly, Booth said, "I know you won't forget."

Smiling back at Booth, Brennan leaned over and kissed him. Feeling better, Brennan got out of the truck and walked back to her office.

Sadly, Booth watched Brennan walk away from the truck. "Maybe she can help me." Booth thought. "She's right, if I don't get this under control, someone is going to get hurt and I'm afraid it's not going to be me."

Getting out of the passenger side, Booth walked around the truck and got into the drivers side. Shaking his head, Booth, started up his truck and drove it back to the Hoover building.

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Arriving back at the Hoover building, Booth found that Agent Johnson had sent over the surveillance video of the receiving bay door. Loading the DVD into his PC, Booth started to watch the video. Apparently that door wasn't used very much at night. It only had three people recorded as using it . One of the people recorded was shown dragging a plastic wrapped something through the door and towards the ramp. The picture quality wasn't as bad as Booth had thought it would be and it clearly showed the side view of the face of the man doing the dragging. The guy had put his jacket hood up over his head; but, the video clearly showed the side view of his face. Doing a screen shot, Booth captured the image of the guy's face and emailed it to Angela, as well as a copy of the video. Booth was sure that Angela would be able to find out who their potential murderer was and then he would go pay the guy a visit. Things were looking up. Booth may be able to close this case faster than even he had hoped for.

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Angela hadn't wasted any time once she received the video from Booth and she was able to identify their potential murder suspect in 43 minutes. Surprised, Angela had emailed a picture of their suspect to Booth along with the guy's name and last known address. The guy worked for the state of Virginia so his fingerprints and photo ID were available to the FBI. The guy had never even had a parking ticket. To Angela, murder seemed to be an extreme way to get your name put into the system. Sadly, this wasn't the first time Angela had seen this happen and she was pretty sure it wouldn't be the last.

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Receiving the identification from Angela, Booth was sad to see that it was the son of the victim. His name was Timothy O'Hare and he worked as a surveyor for the state of Virginia. What ever this turned out to be about, Booth felt sorry for the guy. Booth always felt sad when the murderer turned out to be a child of the victim. The anger and rage that made a child kill his or her parent was understandable to Booth. He didn't condone the murders and he would do everything in his power to bring the murderers to justice; but, deep down, he felt he understood the emotion behind the act of violence, at least a little bit.

Uncle Billy Bob may not have been as good a guy as Hodgins thought he was.

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I would really appreciate a review. Thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Bones.

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Booth, wanting to avoid Brennan for the rest of the day, took Agent Shaw with him when he went to interview Timothy O'Hare. Agent Shaw had returned Hodgins to the Jeffersonian and then returned to the Hoover building about a twenty minutes earlier.

Driving over to Timothy O'Hare's house, outside of Vrigina Beach, Virginia, Booth brought Agent Shaw up to speed about the video from the hotel and Angela's identification. Agent Shaw had told Booth about everything that had been found at the crime scene.

Nodding Booth said, "You've done a good job, Agent Shaw. We'll see what Timothy O'Hare has to say for himself. I don't think the guy has any wiggle room; but, we'll we see what he has to say before we bring him in."

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Arriving at Timothy O'Hare's house, Booth parked in the driveway, behind the Silver Ford Fiesta parked in the driveway. If Timothy planed to make a run for it, he would have to do it without his car.

Walking up to the door, Booth had Agent Shaw stand to the side of the door. If Timothy planned to do anything stupid, then Booth wanted Agent Shaw to be able to react. He had stopped down the street and they had both put on bullet proof vests before continuing up to the house. Both Booth and Agent Shaw had put on jackets over the vests and then zippered them up. Booth wanted them both to be safe; but, he didn't want to spook the suspect either.

Knocking on the door, Booth could hear that a television was on. Much to his surprise, Timothy opened the door right away. Upon seeing Booth and Agent Shaw, Timothy asked, "Are you the police?"

Shaking his head and holding up his ID, Booth said, "We're FBI. Are you Timothy O'Hare?"

Nodding his head, Timothy said, "Yes. I've been waiting for someone to show up since this morning. Would you like to come in?"

Puzzled, Booth said, "Yes, we would."

Turning around, Timothy walked back into his living room and sat down on the chair facing the TV. Picking up his TV remote, Timothy turned off the TV, put the remote down on the side table and put his hands into his lap, waiting.

Walking in behind Timothy, Booth said, "Are you by yourself, sir?"

Nodding, Timothy said, "Yes; but, I give you permission to look around if you want to."

Nodding his head at Agent Shaw, Booth watched her walk away and start looking in each room to verify what Timothy was alone.

Walking over to where Timothy was sitting, Booth stood a few feet from his suspect and asked, "You were expecting us?"

"Oh yes," Timothy said, "You might want to read me the Miranda right now, just to cover yourself."

Sadly, Booth read off the Miranda to Timothy. Once he was finished and Agent Shaw was back in the room, Booth said, "You obviously know why we're here."

Nodding his head, Timothy said, "Yes. I know about my father. I want you to know that I'm confessing to the murder of my father. I was originally going to try to get away with it; but, after I started trying to do something with his body, I realized that I've had enough. I've had enough and I want all of this to end. My life has been a nightmare since the day I was born. I want that nightmare to stop."

Shaking his head, Booth asked, "Why did you do it, Mr. O'Hare? You're a grown man. Anything he did to you was past history. Why kill him now?"

Starting to cry, Timothy said, "He beat my son. He beat him because the boy accidentally broke some stupid figurine my father had on an end table. Joey was just horsing around. That's what kids do. Joey was just visiting the old man. My old man lives about four blocks from here. He had never touched my kids before; but, Joey broke that damn statue and he beat my boy. He broke Joey's arm and gave him a concussion. I was out of town yesterday when this happened. My old man called my wife and told her that Joey had an accident and fell down and hurt himself. When my wife got to the old man's house, she found Joey unconscious on the floor. She called an ambulance and she went with my boy to the hospital. When Joey woke up, he told my wife what the old man had done to him. She called me. I knew the sorry bastard was going to a convention yesterday afternoon; so, I got in my car and drove to D.C. and tracked him down. When I got to the hotel, I looked around and found out that the tenth floor was being remodeled. I asked my old man to come up to the tenth floor of the hotel and meet me. He knew I was angry; but, he thought he could just threaten me. He thought I would take it like I've always taken it. "

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Timothy continued, "I couldn't let him do that to my son. Not my son. It was bad enough that he use to beat me and my sister when we were kids; but, there was no way I was going to let him do that to my son."

Nodding his head, Booth asked, "Why didn't just call the police? Why kill him?"

Shaking his head, Timothy said, "Because I knew he'd just tell the cops that Joey had an accident and that he didn't have anything to do with Joey's injuries. Why not? He did that when I was a kid. One time, he broke my left arm, broke some of my ribs and knocked me unconscious. He took me to the hospital and told them I had a skate boarding accident. He told them we had an argument and I had been reckless while skate boarding. Well the doctors saw Uncle Billy Bob standing before them all upset that his little boy had been hurt. They actually patted the sorry bastard on his back and felt sorry for him. I told the doctor, who treated me, what had happened; but, you know what that doctor said?"

Nodding his head, Booth said "He said he didn't believe you and you should be ashamed of yourself for trying to get your father into trouble over an accident just because you were mad at him."

Laughing, Timothy said, "Well, now that sounds like experience talking. Let's just say I had a good reason for killing the bastard and I don't care what happens to me. My life is over; but, my kids are safe from the miserable bastard and that's all that's important to me. I'm ready to leave whenever you're ready. My wife is over at her sister's house with the kids. I didn't want them to be here when you came to arrest me."

Motioning for Timothy to get up, Booth cuffed his suspect and took him out to the truck. Once he had Timothy in the truck, Agent Shaw got in the truck with Timothy. Seeing that Timothy was secured in the back seat, Booth walked away from the truck and called Brennan to let her know that he had the murderer of Uncle Billy Bob in custody and that he would probably be late getting home.

Brennan heard a sadness in Booth's voice and told him that she loved him. He told her that he loved her too.

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Thanks for a review. I would appreciate it.


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you for reading my story. I appreciated the reviews and alerts.

I don't own Bones.

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On the way back to the Hoover Building, a memory suddenly appeared in Booth's mind. That had been happening to him ever since he had been operated on to have a tumor removed from his brain a couple of years ago. Booth would see something or hear something and suddenly he had a new memory. Most of the time, the memories were benign. In this case, the memory wasn't so good.

As soon as he got back to his office, Booth called his grandfather. Hearing Hank on the phone, Booth came straight out and asked Hank his question. Hank had sounded puzzled; but, he had confirmed the memory for Booth. Shaking his head, Booth thanked Hank and told him that he had a meeting to attend, so, he would call Hank back as soon as he could, probably tomorrow.

Ending the call, Booth sat at his desk, thinking.

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It had been a long and very sad day, so Booth was a little happy to get home. Walking into Brennan's apartment, Booth called out for Brennan; but, he found out she wasn't there. He supposed that she had become fascinated with one of her skeletons in Limbo again and had lost track of time. Lately, if she was running this late, he would call her and remind her that she wasn't living alone any more. This time, he left her alone. "Let her enjoy herself," Booth thought.

Making himself a sandwich, Booth ate a few bites and then decided he wasn't very hungry after all. Throwing the sandwich away, Booth took a shower and went to bed. He felt sad and he just wanted to lose his thoughts in sleep.

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Brennan had been working on a World War I unidentified soldier from France when she checked her watch and noticed it was 9:23 p.m. The time didn't worry her as much as the fact that Booth hadn't called her to complain that she should be home. This worried her more than she cared to admit. Taking her phone out of her pocket, she dialed Booth's number; but, he didn't answer. Her call went to voice mail. Deciding that she had better go home, Brennan went to her office, got her purse and drove home.

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Arriving at her apartment, Brennan saw that the bedroom door was closed. Walking over to the door, she opened it and saw Booth asleep on the bed. Brennan, deciding that Booth had been going through more than he should have to, let him sleep.

After eating a light diner, Brennan read for a little while and then went to bed. Normally when she got in or out of bed, Booth would wake up; but, not this time.

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Booth had been sleeping rather soundly when the nightmare started. It was a nightmare he had been having for about a year now. The horror of it was almost unbearable and finally with a gasp, Booth woke up with tears running down his face.

Waking up, Booth found Brennan had her face pressed against his and she was telling him that everything was alright. She loved him and everything would be alright.

Reaching up, Booth put his hand on Brennan's face and replied, "Thanks Bones. I love you too."

Concerned, Brennan asked, "Was it that dream again?"

Nodding his head, Booth responded, "Yes. It was."

Pulling his hand away, Booth sat up and drew his knees up. Putting his arms around his knees, Booth explained, "I know what the dream means now. I had a memory come back to me today and now I know what this dream means. I also know why I've been so afraid of clowns for the last couple of years."

Sitting up, Brennan put her left arm around Booths right arm and leaned against him. "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Nodding his head, Booth asked, "Sure. You know my dad was a barber? I think I told you that once."

Nodding her head, Brennan answered softly, "Yes, you told me that."

"I forgot that he was also a part time clown." Booth replied. "He used to be a clown for some Veteran's Group he belonged to. He visited hospitals with some of his friends to cheer up sick kids. It made him look good with his buddies, I guess."

Looking at the wall across the room, Booth continued, "You know my old man drank. He was a pretty mean drunk too. After he would entertain the sick kids, he and his friends would stop off at a bar on the way home and have a few drinks. He would come home wasted. We all knew to be extra careful how we talked to my Dad when he came home like that; but, sometimes it didn't matter what we said or did. He would just start beating me and my Mom. He didn't hit Jared too much because Jared was his favorite and also because Jared was smart enough to hide. Sometimes my Dad would beat my Mom and me until he just passed out from the drink. My Mom tried to protect me; but, that just enraged the old man more."

Feeling tears sliding down his cheeks, Booth reached up with his left hand and wiped them away. "That sorry son of a bitch was a damn clown, Bones. He's the reason I've been having that damn nightmare. I guess that nightmare was what made me so afraid of clowns for the last year or so."

Nodding her head, Brennan soothed, "I'm sorry Booth. I'm sorry that you had such a horrible father. I used to think that being in foster care was the worst thing a child could experience. Now I know that living with a father like yours is much worse. At least I know that my father loves me and would never hurt me."

Turning and looking at Brennan, Booth vowed, "Our child is going to be happy, Bones. I promise you that. Our child is going to have the childhood we should have had."

Smiling, Brennan agreed, "Yes, we'll both make sure of that."

Reaching his left hand up towards Brennan's face and placing his hand along the side of her face, Booth leaned over and kissed her.

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I hope you liked my story. Thanks for reading it. Please let me know what you think about Booth's reason for hating clowns.

If all goes well, my sequel to "Casualties of War" should start this coming Sunday. It will have a different title. I'm not firm on what that will be yet. Thanks for your patience.


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